Retail cash systems (RCS) are used for handling of cash, such as notes (bills), cheques or coupons in a retail establishment. The systems generally comprise a coin deposit apparatus and a coin dispensing apparatus.
The coin deposit apparatus has to discriminate between different types of acceptable coins, such as valid coins in a plurality of denominations in one or more specific currencies. Preferably, it should also be capable of detecting unacceptable cash, such as fake (counterfeit) coins or coins of a foreign currency. In the coin deposit apparatus a coin acceptance module (CAM) handles the discrimination of coins and is also adapted to count the coins to register the deposited amount. One typical user is a cashier emptying a till after a work shift.
A typical CAM is disclosed in WO 2008/024043. This CAM is comprised of a hopper bowl comprising a rotary flexible disc. Coins fed into the hopper bowl are picked up by the rotary flexible disc and fed via a sorting knife to a downwardly sloping coin rail mounted to a backwardly inclined front plate of the CAM. Ideally, each coin rolls by gravity down the coin rail past a coin sensor unit for removing counterfeit coins down to a coin sorter comprising a rotary carrier disc. This carrier disc transports valid coins along a circular sorting path across a series of openings in the front plate. The openings are of increasing size, such that coins of the smallest diameter will fall down through the first opening in the transport direction, whereas coins of the second smallest opening are separated through the next opening, etc.
However, it turns out that some coins do not roll smoothly down the coin rail. In fact, they may start bouncing along the way. As a result, the bouncing coins may reach the carrier disc at a distance from the circular sorting path, which in turn may lead to poor sorting of these bouncing coins.
Accordingly there is a need for improved ways of sorting coins.